History
The formation of the NCAC was announced at joint news conferences in Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh in February 1983. Allegheny College, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and The College of Wooster were charter members in 1984, the same year that NCAC athletic conference play began. The conference offered 10 women's sports, the most offered by a conference at that time.
In 1988, Earlham College and Wittenberg College accepted invitations to join the NCAC, pushing conference membership to nine schools in three states. The two schools would begin play in the fall of 1989. In 1998, Hiram College, and Wabash College accepted invitations to join the NCAC, pushing conference membership to 10 schools in three states, which both schools began play in the fall of 1999. Case Western Reserve, a charter member of the NCAC, announced that it would leave the NCAC following the 1998–99 academic year. The Spartans would compete on a full-time basis in the University Athletic Association (UAA) after more than a decade of joint conference membership affiliation.
Earlham announced it would depart the NCAC for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC), beginning with the 2010–11 season. DePauw University became the 10th member of the NCAC beginning in the 2011–12 season.
Allegheny left the NCAC after the 2021–22 school year to return to its former home of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Allegheny and Earlham remain single-sport NCAC members in field hockey.[1] Later in 2022, Transylvania University and Washington & Jefferson College were announced as single-sport NCAC members for field hockey, beginning with the 2023 season.
The most recent changes to the NCAC membership were announced in 2024. First, on January 18, John Carroll University announced it was leaving the Ohio Athletic Conference to join the NCAC.[2] Then on April 23, Hiram announced it would leave the NCAC in 2025 to return to the PAC, which it had left in 1989.[3]
Chronological timeline
- 1983 – In February 1983, the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) was founded. Charter members included Allegheny College, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University and The College of Wooster, beginning the 1984–85 academic year.
- 1989 – Earlham College and Wittenberg College joined the NCAC in the 1989–90 academic year.
- 1999:
- 2010 – Earlham left the NCAC to join the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) after the 2009–10 academic year; while it remained in the conference as an affiliate member for field hockey, beginning the 2010–11 school year.
- 2011 – DePauw University joined the NCAC in the 2011–12 academic year.
- 2022 – Allegheny left the NCAC to rejoin the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) after the 2021–22 academic year; while it remained in the conference as an affiliate member for field hockey, beginning the 2022–23 school year.
- 2023 – Transylvania University and Washington & Jefferson College joined the NCAC as affiliate members for field hockey in the 2023 fall season (2023–24 academic year).
- 2025:
- Hiram left the NCAC to rejoin the PAC after the 2024–25 academic year.
- John Carroll University joined the NCAC beginning the 2025–26 academic year.
- 2026 – Washington University in St. Louis will join the NCAC as an affiliate member for football, beginning the 2026 fall season (2026–27 academic year).
